Les Miserables: Family
by Dark Cronos
Summary: Sequel to Les Miserables His Mission. Cosette sneaks out for a visit to Santa Claus but finds an almost dead Eponine on her way. Valjean takes her home to recuperate. Oneshot


So here it is. My first story in a long time, that follows my other story Les Miserables: His Mission, I highly recommend you read that one first. My unfinished stories will be hopefully finished this year but we'll see. I'll also add some new ones.

LD: I've always considered the legal disclaimer on these Miserables stories really important because I would never take credit from Victor Hugo's work.

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Cosette knew that she was not obeying her father and mother. They had clearly told her that the they had to be really careful when going outside the house. That's why she only got out of the house with them in the mornings for a while and then the evenings, with no time to playwith other children or explore the zone surrounding her home. With her mother now pregnant those excursions had been reduced gradually until they didn't go out anymore, her father was reluctant to leave her mother alone in her state, and he only exited the house to buy the bare necessities. Cosette had tried to understand and to obey, she really did, but when she was playing in the garden she had heard from some boys that Père Noël was at the center of town asking the children what they wanted she had decided to disobey just this one time. She was a really good girl all the time, she helped, did her chores and studied hard, she was sure her parents would forgive this little adventure.

She was walking through the alley towards the Main Street when she saw her. A child about her age laying on the ground. She approached the child and identified her as a girl, a brunette girl with brown eyes which were pointed at Cosette without really seeing her. The girl wore a dirty ragged dress which had clearly seen better days, as had its owner. Cosette looked at the girl for a while until it downed on her. She was Eponine, the eldest daughter of her former guardians.

Cosette approached the other girl warily and and she could tell the other girl was also wary about her and she tried with all her might to look at Cosette and follow her movements. The 2 girls had never been the best of friends, Eponine had always made fun of Cosette, sure she played with her sometimes but if Cosette did something that upset her he would call any of her parents and Cosette was in for a hell of beating. However it was also true that when Eponine had learnt of what happened when she denounced Cosette she had stopped doing it almost immediately. From that day on Cosette was only beaten when they fought in front of the innkeepers or when she did something wrong, which was daily, but that had nothing to do with Eponine

What Cosette had felt for Eponine was envy as she was always given what she didn't have. What Cosette didn't know is that Eponine had been jealous of the relation she had with Fantine ever since her first day at the inn, even Eponine with barely four years of life behind her had known that they were each other's world. The same thing happen when the man came last year to take Cosette away, she had felt that he actually cared about the other girl. Her parents did not show the same for her, sure they spoiled her and bought her everything she wanted but she never saw the love she had seen in Fantine's eyes, in her mother's and her father had never treated her with such love as Valjean treated Cosette and the same thing happened with her younger siblings.

"Cosette" Eponine said recognizing the other girl. The voice was weak, almost a whisper and it was clear that it hurt her to speak. She closed her eyes as she was completely broken, tears escaped her eyes. Cosettesaw the shadow of death over the other girl and she was sad, as mean to her as Eponine had been, she had been the closest thing to an elder sister she had ever had. So she ran back home as quickly as she could.

Valjean was on the yard looking for her and relief washed over his face as he saw her entering the house, an expression he quickly changed. The girl had disobeyed him and his wife and had gotten out, he looked at her with a stern expression on his face.

"Papa!" The girl shouted as he took his arm. "You have to come with me quickly."

"Cosette where have you been?" He asked her more worried than angry to see his little girl so nervous.

"I had planned to go to the center of the town because Père Noël is there but it doesn't matter anymore. Please you have to come!" Cosette begged.

"Wait my child what's happening?" Asked his six month pregnant wife Fantine as she exited the house.

"It's Eponine, she is hurt!" Cosette said almost on the verge of tears. Valjean and Cosette looked at each other worried. They knew who Eponine was. She was the eldest daughter of the Innkeepers that were Cosette's guardians until just a year ago. Valjean had not seen the child when he had picked Cosette up from that place but she had heard some stories from Cosette, while not treating Cosette well, she had treated her with some dignity.

"Where is she?" Valjean asked his daughter.

"On the corner of the alley and the Main street" Cosette replied. Valjean looked at his wife who just gave a firm nod. He then looked at his daughter. "Go to the doctor's house and bring him here my child I'll pick Eponine up and bring her here."

With that said Valjean stormed out of the house towards the place his daughter had indicated him. Just as Cosette said a little girl was laying on the ground on a terrible state. He approached the girl carefully and picked her up startling her.

"I'm sorry little one." He said as he saw her terrified expression. "Don't worry I'm not going to hurt you"

The girl nodded weakly and closed her eyes again. Valjean felt her famished and could tell that she had been brutally beaten, he didn't need to be a genious to know that it was her parent's doing. He already felt hate for the innkeeper man and his wife for what they did to Cosette, but he was feeling the hate increase greatly as he saw this child. Fantine was waiting for them at the door and froze with a sad expression as he saw the little girl. She picked her up and brought her up to Cosette's room. A few minutes later the doctor entered the house with Cosette guiding him. Valjean smiled at the man and the man returned the gesture. He was an english doctor who had been living in France for a long time since he was a child, Steve Jefferson was his name.

"Mr. Valjean" the doctor greeted her. "Is something wrong with your wife?Your daughter has brought me here so fast that I don't really understand what has happened."

"No my wife is fine, or as fine as she can be being six month pregnant." Valjean replied. "However we have found a child on the street. I suspect she has been brutally beaten up she is cold and has a high fever." Valjean explained. The doctor nodded gravely and got upstairs as Valjean signalled him.

Once the doctor left, Valjean looked at his clearly sad daughter and pulled her into a hug as the girl cried.

"I-I don't want her to die." Cosette said crying.

"She won't die." Valjean reassured her hugging her strongly.

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Valjean was seated in the living room near the fireplace with his daughter asleep in his arms. She had cried herself to sleep. Fantine got down and smiled at the vision. Valjean raised his head and smiled at the love of his life.

"How is Eponine?" Valjean asked worried. His wife smiled before answering.

"The doctor has given her some medicine for the fever and is working on her bones. The poor child had marks and injuries worse than Cosette, Jean." She said sitting near her husband and daughter. "He also said that the girl has not eaten properly in a month at least." She looked at her daughter and caressed her child's blonde locks. "How is she?"

"Scared and worried about Eponine" He replied.

"What kind of monsters would do that to their daughter?" She asked tearfully. "To a child?"

Valjean sighed, he knew his wife wasn't referring just to Eponine but Cosette as well. "They are just small girls, Cosette is barely eight and Eponine can't be much older." His wife continued.

"I don't know my love" He replied kindly kissing her forehead. Cosette stirred in her sleep and her parents put their hands on her back soothingly which seemed to calm her down. Valjean sighed and put his child in her mother's arms and went up to talk to the doctor.

Steve was tending to the girl who had a much peaceful expression now. He turned around to look at Jean and smiled at the man. "This girl is very lucky that you helped her, I don't think she would have survived the night if you didn't"

"And now?" Valjean asked.

"Now the odds are better but I guess we'll just have to wait and see." The doctor said. Valjean liked that about this doctor, he was honest with his patients and didn't sugarcoat things much. "Like I told Fantine she will need tme to rest."

"We'll make sure she gets it" Valjean reassured him.

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Eponine opened her eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling for a while as she returned to reality. She was really comfortable in bed and she didn't really want to wake up. Suddenly she opened her eyes wide realizing something. She had not slept in a bed since she, her parents and her siblings were kicked out of her house. She tried to rise up but waves of pain extended throughout her body, especially her lead and her arm, though the rest of the body was feverish and her ribs hurt. She looked to her side and saw Cosette sleeping on a chair besides her. Looking around and seeing all the toys the dresses which could be seen on the half open wardrove and the light pink that coloured the walls of the room she guessed she was in Cosette's room.

She had tried to remember why she was there. She remembered the discussion with her father and how she had demanded to return home, how she had begged him and her mother and how she had been slapped by the man. She also remembered how she insulted him and how her father had kicked her hard on the face, but he did not stop he kicked and kicked her more, he was completely drunk and out of it. He kicked her on her arm really strong and she almost lost conciousness as he continued to kick her. Then she broke her leg as well. During all that her mother had just shouted a few "Stop it!" but she did not make a move to help her, Eponine would like to think that it was because she was pregnant again, her little sister Azelma didn't move as she was completely terrified hugging their youngest brother Gavroche. They had carried her for a while until her father, her own father, had thrown her off the cart in the corner of an alley.

She had been left in the cold for hours until Cosette arrived. The small child had believed the other one to be an hallucination but seeing as that she was still in pain she was not dead because she wasn't in heaven. After all children couldn't go to hell could they? After that she barely remembered anything, she thought she saw a man carrying her but that was all. She growled in pain as she moved unwittingly.

Cosette's eyes opened slowly and she looked at Eponine. She smiled brightly and ran out of the room surely to tell her parents. She feared what would happen now, her family had treated Cosette really badly during her stay at the inn, she herself could have been better to her. But it was too late for regrets, she would accept whatever they had in store for her, but she knew she didn't want to get back to her family.

A pregnant blonde woman entered the room. Eponine recognised her from her rare visits to the inn, she was Cosette's mother, Fantine. Both looked really happy to see her awake and she didn'r know what to make of it. Cosette's father entered soon after also smiling when she saw Eponine awake. The fear on her eyes was so clear that the man knelt on the bed and put his hand on her face comfortingly.

"No need to be afraid little one. We will not harm you, we are here to take care of you." He said smilinf lovingly at her. Eponine checked their faces looking for any ill intentions but there were none. She relaxed a little and nodded at them in acknowledgement. "My name is Jean Madeleine." The man continued. "And this are my wife and my daughter, I believe you have already know them.

The girl nodded with a small smile on her face.

Jean felt bad lying about her surname but only Fantine knew his story, and if he could help it no one else would ever know it. The girl opened her mouth and after a lot of effort she spoke.

"Thank you" she said weakly.

Fantine took her hand and smiled. "You are welcome little one. Do you need something? Water? Food?" Eponine's eyes lit up at the sound of the word food and both Fantine and Valjean chuckled. "I'll go get both" she said exiting the room followed closely by her husband. Eponine looked at Cosette and opened her mouth to speak again which costed her as much as the time before.

"Thank you Cosette" she said smiling at the younger girl who turned red in embarrassment. "And sorry" she said weakly and crying. "I'm sorry" She repeated weeping stronger. She looked for the right words. "For treating you like I did."

Cosette smiled and hugged the other girl strongly which Eponine gladly returned. "Don't worry 'Ponine I forgive you." And so when Valjean and Fantine returned found the two children laughing with each other as sisters.

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Mr. Thenardier woke up besides his wife and kissed her head drunkenly. She glared at him but said nothing. He looked at the place where his two kids were sleeping outside the cart and nodded. He did not feel remorse for her eldest daughter fate. For him it was just a mouth less to feed and he was grateful for that. Besides he did not need ungrateful children in his family and even though he "loved" his children what Eponine had done was something he couldn't forgive, she opposed him and paid for it, as simple as that. Besides he already had another set of bastards on the way.

He got out to the cold winter parisian morning. And began preparing the horse to move to another part of the city. It wouldn't be good if the police caught them, after all one of the most important inspectors in the city was Javert, the man who had kicked them out of their inn last year. clenched his fists feeling hate for the man, also for the man that had come to take Core... Caro... Charlo... no, those were not her name, anyway, he also felt hate for the man that had taken the girl his family was caring for. He shook his head, he would get back at them someday. He heard some horses galloping behind him and his body stiffened.

Whether they were coming for them or not he couldn't afford to be caught. He quickly hid behind his cart while three mounted policemen passed by the cart without even looking at it. Thenardier sighed in relief and continued preparing the horse with an smirk on his face, it seemed like he wouldn't be caught that day.

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Three weeks passed and Eponine began getting better, fortunately for the child and miraculously according to the doctor no permanent damage had been done. In fact she got out of bed with Cosette aiding her and explored the house. Unlike during their life in the inn, Cosette had indeed taken a liking to Eponine and Eponine to her, both Valjean and Fantine had grown to love the child as well especially since she was trying to help with whatever she could. At the end of her second week of rest she had tried to help Fantine by bringing her dishes to the kitchen, unfortunately she had fallen and broken the plates, Fantine had found her crying on the floor and asking for her forgiveness and when Jean had arrived she had cowered in fear, both adults kissed her and soothed her until she felt asleep. That prompted Fantine to have a chat with her husbands when both girls were asleep. Valjean was reading a book by the chimney when his wife approached him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"My love, we need to talk." She told him. Valjean looked at her and nodded.

"What about?" He asked.

"Eponine." She replied. Valjean's expression turned worried.

"It's something wrong with her? The doctor did say she was doing better" Valjean said.

"She is." Fantine said. "But I'm worried about what we are going to do about her later."

"What we are going to do?" Valjean asked finally getting a little of the picture but not the whole.

"I want to raise her." Fantine told him.

"I see." Valjean said thoughtfully. Fantine could tell her husband was thinking about something.

"Well." She said ending a few minutes of awkward silence. "What do you think?"

"I've got nothing against it but. It's not my opinion what matters." He said closing his book.

"You mean that we should ask her first?" Fantine asked.

"Yes. And also we must explain to her that if she decides to stay she'll have to obey some rules she is not accostumed to." Valjean said, while she had grown to care for the child, he would never do something that could give his location away to Javert. Fantine smiled kindly and nodded, she perfectly understood his reasons.

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The following morning while Cosette and Eponine were playing on the room, Valjean and Fantine entered. Both girls eyed them curiously and Valjean could swear he could see some kind of fear when she looked in the young Thenardier's eyes. He smiled kindly at both girls and knelt to stay at the same height as them.

"Girls we need to talk." He told them. Eponine nodded shyly while Cosette looked at him full of curiosity.

"Why? Have we done something wrong Papa?" She asked. Both Fantine and Valjean chuckled.

"Not at all." Valjean said kindly.

"Then what do we have to talk about?" Eponine asked shyly.

Valjean sighed. "We should talk about what to do when you get better."

Now both girls looked afraid and came closer together as they watched him expectantly. He smiled at them reassuringly and looked at Fantine to continue.

"We've talked about this and we have two options." His wife continued. "One option is to give Eponine to the State, where she would be placed in an orphanage and live there until she is adopted" or they throw you out to the streets in the worst case, she thought, but decided not to tell them. Neither girl seemed happy with this option anyway. "Or she could stay here with us." She added,

Both girls took a while to process what they had heard but once they did they smiled widely. Fantine had been worried that Eponine would reject the idea, after all, for all she knew she might have had some lingering feelings for her family. It seemed that was not the case or at least she now had stronger feelings for them than the Thenardier family.

"So it's decided then" Valjean said. He hugged litthe Eponine with Fantine and Cosette joining shortly afterwards. "Welcome to the family."

"Thank you Papa." Eponine said.

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Two months after adopting Eponine Jean Valjean stood outside of his room hearing his wife's screams as she gave birth to their child. Eponine and Cosette stood right beside him very quiet and with a worried expression sometimes running towards Jean and burying their faces on him when a particularly high or painful scream was heard. Valjean felt guilty for making them stay at home during those moments but he didn't have anyone he could send them with.

"Is mama dying?" Eponine asked worriedly once. Cosette had also looked at their father with a worried expression.

"No, little ones." He had replied. " She is not dying. She is giving birth to your new sibling."

After that none of the girls asked anything. They just stood by him. After a few hours of matrones going in and out of the room the Fantine's cries subsided and a baby's cries could be heard. The doctor came out of the room and smiled at the family before him.

"How is she doctor?" Valjean asked worriedly

"As fine as anyone can be after giving birth to two children?" The doctor replied smiling. Valjean's jaw fell before he smiled widely.

"Two?" He asked in shock.

"Yes a boy and a girl." The doctor replied. "You three can enter now."

Valjean thanked the doctor and rushed to the room where his wife was holding his youngest children. His wife looked at him and weakly smiled while him, Eponine and Cosette approached her. He kissed her head once they reached and whispered a quick "I love you". Fantine smiled briefly in response but was interrupted by the sound of their daughters.

"They are so tiny!" Eponine exclaimed, earning a chuckle from her parents.

"What are their names?" Cosette asked.

Seeing his wife was too tired to respond, Valjean spoke.

"Well we had thought one male name and one female when we thought there was only one coming, so I guess we have a name for both name." Valjean told her daughters. "Your brother is called Pierre and your sister is called Marie."

The two children nodded and cooed at their siblings while Valjean and a really sleepy Fantine watched them happily.


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